The Strongest Wizard

Level Three Of The Bowels Of Stoughlin

28th December 1018 / 2018 0345hrs

"Wait for its Berserk Mode when its HP reaches 5,000...!!! Everyone would leave this place and reach for any undercovers. Its Berserk Mode would be 15-20 seconds. T A N K...!!! G U A R D I A N...!!! Be prepared...!!!" I hollered out as I prepared to take cover and hide for the 20 seconds when the Skeleton Boss had gone into Berserk Mode. Once it was in Berserk Mode, its HP would recover 150%, and it would have its Rage and Fury enhanced. Anyone in its path could be wiped out in a matter of seconds, and the only thing to do right now is to hide first. 

It doesn't sound too macho at all but its the right thing to do at this moment. At least when everyone's level is not par with the Level Monsters. Mine is still at Level 5, and the members are Level 8. Very soon, they would be surprised by seeing me falling back to Level 0 since I would be doing something of a downgrade to upgrade. Something that I would do that would happen after this catacomb adventure. 

*R R A A W W R R*

*R R R R A A A A W W W R R R* 

The Skeleton Boss suddenly roared out, and its size seemed to increase. There was a reddish aura around the Skeleton Boss as it beat its ribcage in anger as it slowly goes into Berserk Mode. 

"T A K E . C O V E R . N O W...!!!" I hollered out and made sure that everyone had run for cover first before I entered my safety zone. Outside, the Skeleton Boss was stomping the ground in search of its enemies that had pounded it with attacks. The moment it went into Berserk Mode, the Skeleton Boss was confused since it could not find a single of its enemies that had been piling up attacks. In its anger and rage, it stomped the place around and barged into any upright structures.

"God...I hope the guys were alright," and I checked the statuses of their wellbeing inside the party system panel and it seemed that the guys were alright now. 

Those 20 seconds were ticking by as if time had slowed down. It was the most unbearable time to spend without doing anything until the Berserk Mode ended. Fortunately, once the Berserk Mode ended, the Skeleton Boss would have at least 25-30% of its HP left from the original 50%. Once the Skeleton Boss had entered back into its original state, it would be weakened for 15 seconds and that 15 seconds would be crucial to us.

Every damage we dealt with would have an increase of 50%...!

"T I M E . T O . S T R I K E...!!! NOOOOOWWWW...!!!" I hollered out as loud as I could as I scrambled out from my hiding spot and straight away launched my fire and frost bolts at it. I then used my AoE attack ACTIVE skills 'I N C I N E R A T E' and this resulted in a circle of fire that dances and licks at the Skeleton Boss. The I N C I N E R A T E spell skill was like a fire pool underneath the Skeleton Boss, and the spell was only activated after PuppetMaster had cast Ring Of Fire to snare the Skeleton Boss for the next 15 seconds. Since it was in a weakened state, it is time for everyone to throw everything they've got at the Boss.

-586 HP

-222 HP

-105 HP

-554 HP

-369 HP

-198 HP

-500 HP

-344 HP

Within that 15 seconds, the Skeleton Boss could not move and had to endure all the barrage of attacks that landed on its body. After that precious seconds had passed, the Skeleton Boss finally collapsed in a crumble of broken bones.

As it collapsed, it let out a single anguished wail as it could not even avenge its own death or even hit any of our members.

Once the Skeleton Boss collapsed, a whole spread of spoils appeared, and there were 8 Skulls of Murloch. The first thing that the members shrieked out were "QUEST ITEMS...!!!" I laughed out loud at their enthusiasm, and once again, there were no casualties, nor anyone suffered any serious injuries. Luckily everyone was well informed of the dangers that lurk within the catacomb and also the Boss that they would meet.

Once again, the spoils of war were set aside on the ground according to their categories. Everyone had their fair share, and they took their time to equip and upgrade their kit. 

In this catacombs, the gamers discovered their first few pieces of Leather Armour with Bronze pieces. However, they could equip them once they are Level 10. 

The next upgrade for pieces of armours would be Bronze pieces where Level 20 gamers would then be able to use. 

At this moment, all they could do was so store them in their spatial storage space. 

"Guys, don't you worry about levelling up. By the time you leave the catacombs, you would level up by then. The process would not be highlighted within the catacombs as it was being restricted."

"Once all you had levelled up, those leather armours pieces with bronze plates on them could already be worn. There are 4 more levels, and there are more pieces of armour to be collected."

"If you have a headpiece, body plate, leggings and boots, it could be considered as a complete set, alright? Any additionals would make the armour piece that you wear to be P E R F E C T...!"

Everyone's eyes shone when I mentioned about the armour pieces that could be considered as a complete or a perfect set. They were fortunate to be able to have the collaboration of their newly appointed Captain.

They knew that their Captain would not be too rash in actions to achieve to where she wanted to be. 

There was other stuff within the spoils, and Snowball asked me if I needed those scrolls or magic books and tomes that were left behind. When I checked on that, I decided to haul those into my own inventory and let Snowball settle the ones that had mana, health potions, credits and such.

"Captain, you sure would not want any of these semi-precious stones? It could be changed for credits, am I right? Besides, what would those gemstones do? You would need to find a gem crafter, am I right?"

"Yes, that's right, Snowball. We need to find a gem crafter to fuse these gemstones to become better pieces before we socket them into our armours and weapons."

"But the ratio of 5:1 is too expensive to afford one mistake from the gem crafters. Right now, we had only started this game, and we have reached this kind of levels. Is that a huge achievement already? Besides, we would have to face more difficulties in the future since we were able to level up more efficiently and expressly in this manner."

"So, Snowball, once you had found the pieces, you can keep them among yourselves, and I would trade with credits with you. The important part now is to complete the 6 levels of this catacombs and receive 8 of the artefacts or quests items per level. There's going to be a surprise for everyone at the end of this trial."

Snowball and the rest were excited to know about the surprise they would be getting at the end of the catacomb adventure. They cleared all the spoils and the two-handed scimitar that could be exchanged for credits by the merchants at the town square.

After the rest of them had stuffed all the scimitars inside their spatial storage space, it was time for us to head down to the third level of the Bowels of Stoughlin.

"Alright now, gather around, please. Let me brief you on the next level of this catacomb which would be much harder than you think. There would be 3 waves of skeletons that are called Screecher Skeleton Warriors. Their mode of attack would be screeching and wielded a two-handed Willow Leaf Sabre which is much more valuable when it comes to trading. You do have spaces left in your inventory, right?"

The rest nodded since their main idea was to gain more credits to change from their in-game account into actual cash back in the real world.

"Since we got everything clear right now, its time for us to prepare to descend to Level three of this accursed catacombs."

The moment when I mentioned the word accursed, the rest of the members were laughing at me. Since we had managed to breeze through and defeating the enemies many times over our own levels with ease. It dawned on me that getting these members for a party raid and be part of the guild members in the future would also be an advantage since everyone understands each other and ready to work together.

After checking the equipment, we soon descended on our next conquest.